I used to feel that way too, then later on (hindsight's 20-20 right?) I realized that the lack of hand-holding here made me *much* stronger in perl than I was before. Rather than having the answer spoon-fed to me, I had to figure it out (and even moreso here than other forum sites I think) and in the end it makes a much better coder out of you.
Either way, I hope you found a viable solution.